Analogue Bye Bye returns with a rare competition to mark Epic’s remastered reissue of seven Sly & The Family Stone albums. They came out last year with 5 or so bonus tracks on each LP, but Amazon just had them on sale at less than a fiver each! In my overexcited state my purchasing finger was - like Sly himself in the very funny clip above - totally out of control and apparently I bought two of “Theres a Riot Goin’ On“. So theres an obvious competition prize.
Leave a comment or email to win my spare copy of one of the all time classics (including 4 bonus tracks). The winner will be decided by a fair but totally random method which I’m yet to make up.
Here’s a selection of some of the absolutly incredible music to be found on all seven LP’s. Essential purchases, especially at such bargain prices (the original boxset was 65 quid!).
Another rumage through my box of old Solid Steel’s finds shows from the first two months of ‘92. Theres no faking the funk with Fred Wesley, The Brides Of Funkenstein, Funkadelic and one of my all-time favourite Bootsy Collins tracks. Fantastically titled, “Munchies for your love” is packed with Bootsy’s trademark bass, chanted backing vocals, all topped off with Mr Collins in full on lothrio mode “hot for your chocolate love!”
Coldcut are in the mix for “Toast N Jam” a reggae/ragga selection featuring fu-snickens, Apache Indian, and Shabba. There are two more mixes in February 92’s show, “Hi Tech Skank” features KT & Hex along with Criminal Minds, while “Future Be-Bop” goes for the funky hip trip hop with DJ Food and Jungle Brothers who’ve always “Got It Like That“.
Lisa Stansfield was doing credible white soul two decades before Winehouse first picked up a crack pipe. As part of Blue Zone tracks like “Big Thing” became Warehouse party favourites, leading Coldcut to sign her up for their pop smash “People Hold On“. “Time To Make You Mine“, taken from her debut solo album, was treated to a dubbed out blissful remake courtesy of The Orb’s Alex Paterson.
I’ve also included Megauploads of two previously posted shows (I think? I lost track to be honest). Nikki Giovanni’s “Ego Trippin” (lyrics) is a glorious slice of Afrocentric poetry, with Nikki proclaiming:
“On a trip north I caught a cold and blew my nose
giving oil to the Arab world
I am so hip - even my errors are correct”
Finally its the original version of “Television” by industrial punks The Beatnigs, as reworked by The Disposable Heroes Of HipHopcrisy (featured in an earlier Analogue Bye Bye).
Its been five months since I last rummaged through my analogue past, otherwise known as the boxes of C90’s and racks of vinyl that overstuff my flat. Hopefully this will be the first of a few more regular “Analogue Bye Bye’s“.
25 years ago this month Greg Wilson became the first UK DJ to mix Live on national TV when he demonstrated his skills on the 1’s and 2’s to a rather flummoxed looking Jools Holland.
Jools: “Don’t you think the scratching thing… might annoy the people who spent all that time making the records?”
Visit Greg’s site for tonnes of fascinating historical goodness, and myspace for proof aplenty of his equally stellar future.
SOLID STEEL
Coldcut’s legendary Solid Steel radio showis a relative whippersnapper at only 20 years old this year, but they’re marking the occasion by releasing classic shows from the archive. Bosbos.net is the place to go for official shows dating all the way back to the pirate radio days of ‘88.
On this site I’ll be continuing with the irregular MP3’s of old shows that have proven surprisingly popular for something I thought was a tad self indulgent when I started putting them up early last year. As always apologies for the questionable audio quality, the haphazard pause button editing, and the all too frequent points where Id either nod off or forget to flip the tape over!
This edition from early February ‘92 starts off in typical “broadest beats” style with The Sex Pistols rubbing shoulders with the Rebel MC. There’s a Coldcut Nervous Records Mastermix featuring Jazzy Joints “People Hold On” sampling “Give A Little Love“, which Jon jokingly threatens to get the lawyers on.
With Bobby Konders, Tito Puente, Shut Up And Dance and a 2nd mix titled “Nervous System” its pretty much a typically untypical show. Acen’s rave classic “Close Your Eyes” continues the cheeky sampling theme with huge slurps from George Harrison. It landed them in court at the time, and Coldcut see the funny side saying “In America they put you in the electric chair for sampling like that!“.
Redefining the word “weekly” its been two months since the last of the promised weekly trawls through my analogue past. I should probably bin the piles of dusty VHS’s but when the first one you put in comes up with some vintage punk funk go-go goodness from The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy, I just can’t do it.
The Word was essential “back from the pub” viewing in the 90’s, with its winning combination of granny snogging, shabba ranks baiting, and debut tv appearances from the likes of Oasis and Nirvana. As Terry Christian introduces the Disposables, Michael Franti launches into a tirade about the producers of the show cutting an anti-homophobia poem he was to read to make room for a piece on breast enlargement. Pulling his shirt off to reveal “FUCK HOMOPHOBIA” scrawled on his chest, he and fellow Hero, Rono Tse then launch into an absolutely storming version of The Dead Kennedy’s “California Uber Ales“.
The Late Show was BBC2’s late night high brow arts programme, most famous for the power cut they suffered during a Stone Roses performance (YouTube) prompting Ian Brown to mutter on air about “Fucking amateurs“. It did however feature some classic live music, in this case from the Disposables again with “Famous & Dandy (Like Amos & Andy)“. Its worth watching for the posh presenters description of the band, not to mention her jumper and specs.
TONY WILSON
Tony Wilson’s death was marked by websites, and music fans across the globe, but I thought I’d post the Newsnight from that evening. Richard Madeley in particular has some great anecdotes, along with Paul Morley and Peter Saville. I hastily edited the piece looking back at Tony’s life, and its a hell of a task to fit even a 10th of everything he did into a few short minutes. A true legend!
COLDCUT SOLID STEEL
Another vintage show from the box of old Solid Steels, and a request that if anyone has a copy of the opening track, Shazam’s “We Are The Terrible Two” I’d love an MP3 (please ). Featuring in this show from January 92 are The Orb, 69, Rakim, Fela Kuti and my own personal favourite a rarely heard dub version of the Longsy D produced “Searchin‘” by China Black (I’ll dig my vinyl copy out soon). All that and a hip hop mastermix from the hosts, including Chubb Rock, Gangstar, Stetsasonic, the Jungle Brothers and more.
I’m Valencia bound to the Benicassim festival for a dose of sun stroke, alcohol poisoning, and hopefully fine music.
Normal service may resume on my return, but first another crusty old edition of Coldcut’s Solid Steel radio show.
Back roughly 15 years for the classic Junior Reid sampling “Blood Vibes” from the Masters At Work, some shameless self publicity with Ninjatune’s Raggadelic Roots, and an old school Reggae ending courtesy of Marley, The Wailing Souls and Aswad. Crammed in between, a Coldcut R&S megamix, and a bit of lefty politics, “Privatise The Air” from Gary Clail and the Barmy Army, that’s as relevant in Gordon’s Britain as it was back in 1992.
Time for two more editions of Coldcut’s Solid Steel radio show this time dating back to the end of 1991. The fact that I scattered parts of shows across many tapes, coupled with labelling that shares TS Elliots sense of order has contributed to a bit of a delay in posting.
The first show (14th Nov 91) has Jon stumbling over how to pronounce Fu-Schnickens, Acid Jazz from the Subterraneans, 3 garage cuts, along with two Coldcut mastermixes. “Funk Box Funk Up” mashes up the early roots of hip hop, while “Future Beat Bop” mixes up some Jungle Brothers with break beats from the likes of DJ Food. There’s also “Asemi Gusta Me” by Kemo Baio, obviously the Ibiza hit of the year which Matt pulls mid way through declaring “it sounded pretty good out there… but its terrible”.
Next up a show from mid December 91 featuring a superb “Quite A Bit Dope” megamix from Coldcut, including Masters At Work, PE, and The Quanzai Posse. There’s an early bit of Carl Craig in his 69 guise, and a tasty bit of Nu Groove from The Barnyard Orchestra.
Solid Steel is still going strong: Podcast here
Look out for a review and pics of Jarvis Cocker’s frankly mental Disney tribute in the next few days (night shift permitting!)
Analogue Bye Bye - A weekly dip into the piles of old vhs’s, tapes and vinyl taking over my flat before they’re sent to the great format heaven in the sky (otherwise known as landfill). The only problem being I haven’t managed to put stuff up weekly yet, and the postmen keeps arriving with fresh vinyl despite my best efforts not to click BUY. Anyway on with the music.
Along with Coldcut, Bomb The Bass & The Beatmasters, S-Express were one of the heavy weights of the 1988/89 period when dance music first stormed the UK charts. In what seemed like an instant the leaden over produced sound of 80’s guitar bands were overwhelmed by kids with samplers and over active imaginations (oh and maybe a little chemical help too).
Sampling and cheap recording technology meant that every release could plunder a different style or genre, so Coldcut’s second hit “Stop This Crazy Thing” fused go-go with reggae, the Beatmasters came correct with Hip House, and Bomb The Bass flipped from the sampladelic joys of “Beat Dis” to UK Soul re-workings of Aretha Franklin.
In keeping with this spirit of anything goes eclecticism, S-Express main man Mark Moore called in avante-garde composer Philip Glass to remix their third single “Hey Music Lover“. Glass had raved about the post modern delights of S-Express on BBC2’s The Late Show, and Mark subsequently took the composer to an acid house club where legend has it Glass stood for a few hours head down listening intently before declaring “OK I think I’ve got the general idea“.
The track I’m posting is not the “Glass Cut” itself but the “Miller Mash Glass Smash” in which William Orbit fused together elements of the Philip Glass, Kurt Munkasci and Daniel Miller remixes. Its a demented 5 minutes 25″ of synth stabs, burbling bass lines, choral fragments and orchestra samples that blew my mind along with my speakers the first time I put it on. Minimalism meets the sampler with fantastic effect.
S-Express’s debut album “Original Soundtrack” remains a bit of a classic of the era, and “Pimps, Pushers, Prostitutes” is one of my favourite cuts. Its a warped disco house love story featuring MC Merlin as the big bragging rapper who has the money and the attitude but by the end is broken declaring “I feel so empty..last night on the sofa I cried man, I cried, for the first time in ten years I cried… I cried over you girl” Backing this up are the strident vocals of Billie Ray Martin, the chanteuse from the brilliant Electribe 101 (who I really must return to in a later post). Merlin breaks down as the chorus chants “Pimps, Pushers, Prostitutes” and Billie roars about “South Africa burning“… it should be a total mess of ideas and concepts… actually it kind of is, but what a glorious mess!
Dusting off another old Solid Steel tape takes us back to October 1991, and yet again a great show (was it ever anything less)? There’s hip-hop from Anttex, De La Soul and the World Famous Supreme Team, reggae from Sister Carol, and two mixes from Coldcut themselves (the second featuring Doc Scott & The Black Dog). The broadest beats as ever!
Leave a comment or email to win my spare copy of one of the all time classics (including 4 bonus tracks). The winner will be decided by a fair but totally random method which I’m yet to make up.” (MP3 - Megaupload click, dont right click) 1hr 50
). Featuring in this show from January 92 are The Orb, 69, Rakim, Fela Kuti and my own personal favourite a rarely heard dub version of the Longsy D produced “Searchin‘” by China Black (I’ll dig my vinyl copy out soon). All that and a hip hop mastermix from the hosts, including Chubb Rock, Gangstar, Stetsasonic, the Jungle Brothers and more.
